'Football at tipping point', says Rio Ferdinand after Basaksehir, PSG players walk off
Rio Ferdinand
Former Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand feels that football is at a "tipping point" after Istanbul Basaksehir and Paris St Germain players walked off the pitch on Tuesday amid accusations a match official used a racist term. Ferdinand said that all those in power should make a stand.
The UEFA Champions League witnessed an unprecedented incident as players from Paris Saint-Germain and Istanbul Basaksehir walked off the pitch amid allegations of racism by fourth officials on Tuesday.
The entire row erupted after Istanbul Basaksehir assistant coach Pierre Webo – a former Cameroon international – was shown a red card during a fierce face-off on the touchline with staff from the Turkish club appearing to accuse the officials of using a racist term.
This incident comes after fans at Millwall's English Championship match against Derby County booed the players when they took a knee in support of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement on Saturday.
"We're at a disturbing tipping point," former England international Ferdinand told BT Sport. "We've got Millwall, the PSG game today, all in the same week. Not a week goes by at the moment without an incident involving race.
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"We're at the point now where something needs to be done, we're saying it all of the time, but the powers that be within this game need to make a huge stand."
While many footballing stars across the world chipped in with their support on social media platforms, Turkish President Recent Tayyip Erdogan said he “strongly” condemned the incident. UEFA announced that it would open a ‘thorough investigation’ on the incident.
Even Paris Saint-Germain stars Kylian Mbappe and Neymar were seen having a chat with the match officials as the duo looked stunned by the usage of words by the fourth referee.
UEFA has been working strongly to kill racial discrimination from the sport and has strict sanctions against those found guilty of discrimination. “Say No To Racism” has been a go-to slogan in UEFA competitions for many years now.